Taking a Valley Forge tour is a great family activity year-round, but it takes on a special significance if you visit during the winter. Valley Forge National Historical Park was created to commemorate the six months that General George Washington and the Continental Army spent camped there in the winter and spring of 1777–78, so seeing the area in cold weather is the best way to get a sense of what it must have been like for the 12,000 men and 200–450 women who stayed there during the American Revolution.
The six months they spent at the encampment were characterized by bitter cold, starvation, and disease, even though the Continental Army would emerge from the Valley Forge crucible in June 1778 as a fully transformed and reenergized fighting force.
The winter of 1777–78 was not a particularly harsh one in Valley Forge, and the area experienced much more rainfall than snow. However, it was still a difficult climate for the underequipped men of the Continental Army, many of whom were lacking proper coats and footwear.
In his memoirs, the Marquis de Lafayette recalled that the soldiers at the Valley Forge encampment were “in want of everything; they had neither coats, hats, shirts, nor shoes; their feet and legs froze till they had become almost black, and it was often necessary to amputate them.” Of course, you’ll be more than comfortable in modern winter clothing, but every gust of cold wind acts as a reminder of what the men and women of the encampment went through in 1777.
In the end, between 1,700 and 2,000 men perished at the Valley Forge encampment, primarily as a result of disease that malnutrition exacerbated. The Valley Forge camp had the highest fatality rate of any encampment during the American Revolution and cost more lives than most of the war’s military engagements. The National Memorial Arch in the park, which bears an inscription from George Washington himself, honors the soldiers’ tenacity today:
“Naked and Starving as they are
We cannot enough admire
Incomparable Patience and Fidelity
of the Soldiery”
To learn more, check out our Valley Forge Self-Guided Driving Tour, or you can sign up for Action+ and gain access to over 100 tours for a single yearly price.
